Good bass amps for £100? (c. $150)

[GenZhukov]

Hey guys, first post and all that. I'm afraid I may turn out to be a one hit wonder in terms of community contribution, but if I may, I would request a little help in choosing an amp; I have no proper knowledge of what makes a good bass amp.

As shown above, I have roughly £100 to sepnd on the amp, although I can push this up by ten or twenty if its really necessary.

I am using a Fender deluxe J-Bass (highly recommended btw) with an active EQ, its unmodified other than that.

If at all possible, I need the amp to be relatively small. I'm an Archaeology student and I live in a cupboard, pretty much.

If any other information would help, ask and I will provide! Whatever you guys can suggest I would be grateful for. Thanks in advance!

 

[T-Bird]

Hi, Ben.

First of all, welcome to TalkBass.

Are You just going to play by yourself, or are you planning to gig with the amp?

As for the choices, almost any amp can be practised with, the smaller the better if You don't want to disturb the neighbours. Even a super cheap guitar combos can be substituted if care is taken not to blow the speakers. One option I've liked to research is the ultra cheap 5W tube heads and combos flooding the market, but a bad experience with the Ibanez Valbee has put me off.

For gigging, I'd say 50W is a minimum for quiet acoustic/folk/background type of music. For rock 150W and upwards.

If there's used Peaveys in Your area those are well worth looking at. Good deals can be had if constantly checking the flea markets, pawn shops and classifieds. I paid ~80€ for my SWR WM10 some time ago and the needed repair was 10$ + the labour (free in my case).

Regards
Sam

 

[GenZhukov]

Hi, 'T-Bird', much obliged, some great advice there, going to follow it up.

In answer to your question, I will only be playing by myself for the most part, but it would be nice to have an extra boost for jam sessions. What power would be adequate for this? Should 50w do it?

Many thanks!

 

[ga_edwards]

Have a hunt for a used Trace Elliot BLX80. 10" speaker, 7 band eq, and a very loud 80watts. Volume and punch quite belies it's diminutive dimensions. It also has a DI out if you need more oomph.

 

[Tojin]

Might be worth looking into a Laney.
The only amp I've owned is a Laney HCM65B and it's pretty solid. I've been playing bass for 4 years and the only problem this amp has seen is a loose connection somewhere which my friends dad fixed for me. I'm looking to get a decent sized rig now but I wont be getting rid of this thing. I am also a student (Biochemistry at University of Southampton) and have the smallest room in the house... Managed to squeeze this into it though hehe.

Apparently Lany have replaced the HCM65B with the RB-3 Invalid Link Removed

This might be a little out of your price range. The next model down (RB-2) should be in your price range but is only 30 watts.

 

[GenZhukov]

Hey 'Tojin' and 'ga_edwards', thanks for taking the time to post. I have tried to find the recommended Trace Elliot but no joy, only the odd one over in America; thanks all the same.

In terms of Peaveys, does anybody have any opinions on the Peavey MAX112?

That Laney you recommended Tojin looks quite good, I will see if anybody else has any suggestions first though.

Thanks again everyone!